Our Sweetest Days
by Intoxicated Gnu
Summary: Ren only knows one way to express his feelings. Masato wants to be noticed. Tokiya's having Tokiya problems. Otoya's friendzoned forever. Haruka's as perceptive as always. A truthful look at the students of Saotome Academy.


Warnings: Spoilers (by the next chapter), stupidity, possible cussing, mentions of sex, stuff…

Ren plucked a petal from his delicate little forget-me-not. _She loves me not._ He was not alone, schoolgirls glued to his every movement in fascination. _She loves me._ A soft sigh parted from his well moisturized lips. _She loves me not._ Another petal fell to the ground. His eyes locked on to the remaining petal. _She loves me._

The girls snuck closer. He looked so far away, so dreamy…

Ren smirked, pressing the remains of his beloved forget-me-not to his lips. "Forgive me, my princess," he muttered as he let it touch the ground. Strolling away, Ren looked to his feet where the flower once lay. Would he risk his destiny upon the words of a flower? The answer was yes, yes he would. _Where are you, my lady?_

Ren was never the type to come off as desperate, so when he didn't see Haruka in the hallway, he left and came back to the hallway. When he again did not catch sight of his darling little lamb, he left and came back once more. Lo and behold, there she was, running right towards him. And past him. "You forgot something."  
>Haruka looked back with a mumble of confusion and saw Ren coming towards her, a flower in his hand.<br>"You look ravishing today, my little lamb."  
>"Thank you," she mumbled in that shy voice she used whenever she didn't know what to say.<br>"You know, I've found myself with an increased sexual attraction to carrot colored hair," he said in an airy wave of molasses.  
>Haruka stared up at him, questioning with her large lemon drop eyes.<br>Ren strung his fingers through her hair. "Like silk against my lips, like fire against my skin." Still no reaction. "Hot bodies glistening in the pleasure of our sin."  
>Haruka's blank face faded into a bright, modest smile. "Are those your new lyrics?"<br>"That depends," Ren said, placing a yellow camellia in her hair. "Would you like to make sweet music with me?"  
>"Sorry, Jinguuji. I promised Ittoki I'd help him with his song. Maybe another time, okay?"<br>Ren watched with disappointment as his sweet little lamb ran off. Haruka still wouldn't accept his advances. She was positively killing him!

"She'll never go for a man like you," a voice said from behind the corner. "She doesn't want a man who isn't serious about her."  
>Ren rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous because she knows I exist, my dear stalker."<br>"She knows I exist," Masato argued, still hiding. "She called me by my name that one time..."  
>Ren tsked. "You've made it a point to be a wallflower since childhood. Sadly for you, not everyone has such an eye, as I do. I've <em>tried<em> to help, but you're too stingy for your own good."  
>"I… I have not…" Masato struggled to say as he tried to fade back into the background.<br>Ren shrugged and walked off. What ever could he do to seduce his sweet little lamb?

Otoya's face burned up when he noticed Haruka's shy gaze.  
>"Ittoki…"<br>He set down the guitar, swallowing thickly. "Y-yes?"  
>She lightly rubbed her forearm, his blush deepening, before she spoke. "Has… Ichinose said anything? About me?"<br>Otoya smiled, heaving a sigh of relief, followed by a pang of guilt. He didn't want to be so happy that his main rival in love would never return Haruka's feelings. He pretended to think about it. "Not that I can think of." It wasn't a lie. He couldn't even remember the last time he and Tokiya had spoken.  
>"I see."<br>Otoya thought about making up something just to lighten the mood, but he didn't want to give her false hope. "Maybe…"  
>"Yes?" Haruka said, her eyes a little brighter.<br>Otoya bit his tongue before saying, "Maybe this line could be better." He crossed out one of the remaining nonsensical lines, replacing it with a line that reflected his feelings. The song had in turn become much more nonsensical and Otoya found himself caring little about it being a good song anymore and caring more about trying to talk to Haruka without him getting too flustered to speak or her being too sad which made him to flustered to speak, or someone else interfering which made him too flustered to speak.  
>"Oh. Yeah…" She trailed off with a sigh, forgetting the whole thing to go over the song in her head once more.<p>

Masato's eyes stung as he forced them upon his hands which were neatly folded atop the desk. Perhaps Ren spoke more truth than he wished to think. He had been staring intensely at the back of Haruka's head since the beginning of class and she hadn't turned around once. What was it about him that made him so invisible to the world? And why was that role so easy to fall into?

Sure, he didn't have the style of Ren or Tokiya or… everyone. He mainly wore hand-me-downs from one of his older cousins, the most bearable of which was the 80's sweater that he thought he had once seen his grandmother wearing. It was one of the few articles of clothing that hadn't long worn thin, his father only allowing him to purchase outfits for work which was how he got away with owning show clothes. Did such things matter in the eyes of pure-hearted women?

Was it his hair? Was it too plain? Did he need to dye it and make it look just like everyone else's before anyone noticed him? Did that thought even make sense?

Masato's face twisted in horror as he wondered if it was his own personality, as Ren had suggested. He sometimes had a hard time adjusting… and wasn't overly sociable… but that meant nothing! He was a perfectly fine, functioning human being. He just needed to do something, _something_ to show others that he was as well.


End file.
